Jackson, Jesse
/ˈjaksən
/ (1941-), US civil rights activist, politician, and clergyman; full name Jesse Louis Jackson. After working with Martin Luther King, Jr., in the civil rights struggle, he campaigned for but failed to win the Democratic Party’s 1984 and 1988 presidential nominations. His son, Jesse Jackson, Jr. (1965-), a Democrat from Illinois, has been a member of the US House of Representatives since 1995.